Fresh Starts at 55+: Inside Woodland Preserve with Marcos and Ashley of Kolter Homes

In this episode of Jim Sells the Suncoast, Jim welcomes Marcos and Ashley from Kolter Homes to introduce Woodland Preserve, a brand-new 55+ community just off Golf Course Road. With thoughtfully designed homes, abundant green space, and first-class amenities already underway, Woodland Preserve is poised to become a peaceful-yet-connected hub for active adults looking for their Florida dream lifestyle.

From modern ranch-style homes to walking trails and pickleball courts, Marcos and Ashley break down why now is the perfect time to move in while the community is still taking shape.

🔑 Key Highlights

🏘️ Community Overview

• 420 Total Homes: Currently in Phase 1 with 122 homesites available; full buildout in progress.
• First Move-Ins: The first resident moved in last month—be part of building a brand-new community from the ground up.
• 55+ and Better: Designed for active adults ready to socialize, stay fit, and live fully—not slow down.

📐 Floor Plans & Customization

• Size Range: From ~1,600 sq ft ranch-style homes to 3,000+ sq ft with optional second floors.
• Personalized Design Studio: Buyers can choose flooring, cabinetry, countertops, fixtures, and finishes—down to the grout lines.
• Pricing: Starts in the high $400s, with price depending on lot, upgrades, structural options, and potential pools.

📍 Location, Location, Location

• Central Convenience: Located off Golf Course Road—30–45 mins from Tampa Airport, Sarasota, beaches, and downtown Lakewood Ranch.
• Nature-Focused Entry: The main entrance winds through conservation land and ponds, creating a quiet, tucked-away feel.

🏊‍♀️ Amenities & Lifestyle

• Coming November 2025: Resort-style pool, fitness center, yoga studio, 6 card rooms, billiards, green space, and walking trails.
• No Lifestyle Director (Yet): But expect organic, resident-led clubs and plenty of social energy from day one.
• Outdoor Perks: 8 pickleball courts, 2 bocce courts, and sidewalks on both sides of the streets for walkability.

💰 HOA, CDD, and Maintenance

• HOA: $215/month – covers full lawn care and access to all amenities.
• CDD: Ranges from ~$1,700 to $2,100/year depending on the home model; paid through property taxes.
• Low-Maintenance Living: Lawn care included so you can skip the Florida summer mowing stress.

🛠️ Build Timelines & Options

• 9–11 Months for New Builds: Buyers can fully personalize their home with on-site design studio.
• Inventory Available: Move-in-ready and in-construction homes available for quicker timelines.

💼 One-Stop-Shop Financing & Incentives

• Preferred Lender & Title: CTC Mortgage & K Title make closings smoother.
• Buy at Today’s Price, Tomorrow’s Rate: Unique program allows buyers to refinance for free within 2 years—hedging against future rate drops.
• Cash Buyer Incentives: Available when using preferred title partner.

A Personal Note from Jim:

Hey there, I’m Jim Ahearn, your go-to real estate guide and host of Jim Sells The Suncoast podcast! 🎙️✨ Dreaming of Florida life? I’ve got you covered! As your dedicated buyer's agent, I’ll handle everything from walk-throughs to closing, making your home-buying journey as smooth as a Florida breeze.

Whether you're local or tuning in from afar, I’ll bring the Suncoast to you with virtual tours and expert advice. Let’s chat about your dream home and I'll connect you with all the right people to make it happen.

Ready to move to paradise? Drop me a line – I can’t wait to help! 🌴🏡

Transcript

Jim: 0:55

All right, and welcome to Jim Sells the Suncoast. Today I am excited to have Woodland Preserve on here, represented by Marcos and Ashley. Marcos has been in the industry since 2001. We won't add up the years, we'll just pretend but in Florida for eight years and working here for six years in this area. And then Ashley has been in the industry five years new to Woodland Preserve. So welcome and I'm glad you guys could be here. Yeah.

Ashley: 1:21

Thank you. Thank you.

Jim: 1:24

So tell me a little bit about Woodland Preserve. What sets this apart in terms of lifestyle and community?

Marcos: 1:31

Woodland Preserve is Coulter Homes newest 55 plus community. Where, if you guys are familiar, if you've been to Crest One Lakewood Ranch, we're on a. A smaller size as far as amenities go. So we don't have a community director here. However, our community is gonna be very spacious from a community clubhouse standpoint. We have a resort style pool pickleball, courts, gym. It's gonna be a nice facility when said and done again, it is a 55 plus community. And the unique thing about Woodland Preserve is that we introduced our brand new floor plans to this community. So we're the first community. the Gulf Coast with these home plan floor plans here.

Jim: 2:11

Oh, perfect. That's a perfect segue. So let's talk about the floor plans. What size, let's start at the bottom and then go up and then we'll go into the cost. But what size homes are we offering there?

Ashley: 2:22

So we offer anywhere from a little over 1600 to a little over 3000. But the nice thing is everything starts out as a ranch style home, but then you have that opportunity where you can add a bonus floor to any of'em, and that's where you're gonna get, around the 3000 square feet, just depending on what plan.

Jim: 2:42

Okay. You said you're starting with a ranch style, so that lets people know how it's gonna be and then they can make that adjustment to what they want to go as far as increase in size.

Ashley: 2:52

Correct?

Jim: 2:52

Correct. And what's the price point? What are we starting at?

Ashley: 2:57

Your base pricing is gonna be in the high four hundreds.

Jim: 3:00

Okay. And then of

Ashley: 3:01

course, it's gonna be up from there. It's gonna be dependent on home site, structural options, design options, pools, things like that.

Jim: 3:09

Sure. And how big is Woodland Preserve gonna be? How many homes are we looking at when it's totally built out?

Marcos: 3:15

420 total.

Jim: 3:17

Okay. That's pretty substantial.

Marcos: 3:19

And then, where are we now? Do you know? We're in our first phase, so we opened up in November of 2024. Okay. Brand new community. The first phase we have about 122 home sites, and so we probably won't start the next phase until summer of next year is when we'll start Selling in that area.

Jim: 3:39

It's fun though if you're moving in and you can be one of those first a hundred homes in a development that you know, you're there to see the entire growth, and then welcome everybody else that's joining your community.

Marcos: 3:49

Correct. anybody that's coming in fresh, in the beginning they're gonna know more people here. And typically with the 55 plus community, you want to join the 55 plus so that you can meet people. And the nice thing is that everybody's at the same stage.

Jim: 4:06

Absolutely. And I think it's almost like a misnomer, right? It's 55 plus, but it is not what you would've thought of maybe in the seventies or eighties. It's not that kind of retirement where people wind down. I think they just keep going.

Ashley: 4:18

Yeah.

Jim: 4:19

What do you call it? 55 and better.

Ashley: 4:22

Yeah. 55 and better.

Jim: 4:23

Yeah. Some of the stuff they're doing is amazing. I know you said there's no community director, but I'm sure there's still clubs getting together groups that are doing everything from, dog walking to backer at, to, pickleball. Yeah. So

Marcos: 4:38

we have eight pickleball courts, two bocce. We have six card rooms. We have a pool table room yoga studio, fitness center walking trails. So there's also green space at the community center. So there's a lot for people to do even though we don't have the community director.

Jim: 4:56

What the, obviously all of this comes a little bit with a cost. What is the HOA and CDD that's there?

Ashley: 5:03

So the HOA is two 15 a month, and then the CDD fee would be dependent on what plan you decide to build here with us. So it's gonna be either a little over 1700 a year or 2100 a year.

Jim: 5:16

Okay. So that's not crazy. Is that included in the taxes then? Correct. Nice. So let's talk a little more about those amenities.'cause I think that's gonna be the big draw when you look at the community where you're located central. Right off golf course road, right? Correct. So you're talking, you're 30, 45 minutes from Tampa airport, 35 minutes from Sarasota, 30 to 40 from all the beaches downtown and Lakewood Ranch and downtown UTC is probably 30 minutes. So you're really like at the center of everything that's available on the Suncoast,

Ashley: 5:54

right?

Marcos: 5:55

Yeah it is a great location. It's a growing location. There's a lot of new communities out here, and also new developments from a commercial standpoint as well. So we're early on, but eventually in, in a couple years, this place will be built up.

Jim: 6:09

Absolutely. Is the amenity centers are, is everything done as far as the amenities being built out or is there more still to come?

Marcos: 6:16

we're currently under construction on the amenity center. So I'll be done in November. But the nice thing is, since we are a brand new community, typically developers won't start the clubhouse until they have X amount of homes sold. And we want, all the residents to be able to utilize it sooner rather than later. So we started the clubhouse already, so it's underway. It's almost, halfway done.

Jim: 6:39

Okay. Okay. That's nice. so what's the build time then? And then are we looking at more of a customization, personalization, or inventory slash spec home or a combination?

Ashley: 6:52

So we are a combination. So if you do wanna build from scratch with us, your build time is anywhere, nine to 11 months. Okay. However, we do have some inventory homes that are available, you know right now and some that are under construction. Something that does make us different is the amount of personalization you can do with us. So here instead of being packaged into a, b, or C packages in the design center here, you do get unique design studio experience where you are going to personalize everything from your flooring, your cabinets, your countertops, down to your grout lines. So it's a really nice design studio we have here. I've never seen anything like it. There's even a few different kitchens set up throughout the design gallery so you can see what, a mat versus a shiny finish will look like, right? Or different colors as far as handles. So you can see many kitchens all within, which is really nice'cause you can see everything, touch it, you can feel it. It's definitely unique

Marcos: 7:52

and our design studio is here on site as well, so that's the nice thing. You're not going to the location.

Jim: 7:59

Yeah. And being able to see it, to actually put your finger on it makes a big difference when you're trying to, design each of those aspects. Correct. So we talked about a little over 400 units. How big is the total park in acreage and in about what percentage is green?

Marcos: 8:18

It's roughly, I don't know off the top of my head, but roughly 320 acres, I believe. And about a hundred acres are gonna be green space. Oh nice. And actually when you drive in, you, if you drive in through our new entrance, our main entrance isn't up yet, it's under construction. But once our main entrance opens up, you actually drive in through a conservation area before you actually hit the community. And that's part of Woodland Preserve as well. So it's gonna be a nice peaceful drive for you and your guests to drive home every day or come visit you before you actually see any homes in the development.

Jim: 8:55

Oh, I think I did see that on site plan. It's gonna go by, you got a couple of ponds as you drive back, so it's off the road. So you may drive by and not even see it and have to circle back and go, oh, here we are. As opposed to laying right on that road. Correct. Yeah. So if somebody's building a house, They start building. Now we're talking nine to 11 months, which puts them maybe right at the end of the year, right at the beginning of next year. So you're looking at, maybe the entrance is done, the amenity center's done, they're done. It might be a perfect time to step in as everything's gonna go forward and be completed right around that same time. Correct. What else is included in the HOA?

Ashley: 9:38

So that's gonna be your full lawn maintenance and then everything after.

Jim: 9:41

Okay.

Ashley: 9:42

The house.

Jim: 9:45

So anybody who's lived in Florida knows lawn maintenance. If somebody else is gonna do it for you in the summer, that's worth every penny

Marcos: 9:52

percent. Yeah.

Jim: 9:53

Take it and run. That's right. So we've talked a little bit Coulter vertically integrated preferred lender title insurance. Is that available all as a one-stop shop? What do you have available for that buyer that's stepping in there?

Marcos: 10:07

So we do have a preferred lender, CTC mortgage, and then a preferred title company, which is K title. So any incentives that we have which we run different incentives at different times. They are tied to using our preferred lender and title, or if we have cash buyers, they have to use the title company to get that. Now, one of the unique incentives that we have, and this is a good option for those that are financing is, if you think about it, what's gonna happen when the rates drop? Housing prices are gonna increase. Correct. So what we do is we have a program. Where you're buying today's house at today's price, but at tomorrow's rate. So within the first two years of closing, we allow those buyers to refinance one time for free. So that way they're not waiting, two years for the rates to drop, and buy it a higher price. They can buy it today, hold it, and then refinance at no cost. So it's a very unique and special option that we're offering here.

Jim: 11:08

I think that kind of takes some of that stress off that, oh my God, what if the rates drop next month or at the end of the year? You can get in and be comfortable and happy. No it doesn't matter. We got the good price, we've got our house. And then you can always refinance. And not having that cost goes a long way. Yes,

Ashley: 11:23

absolutely.

Jim: 11:26

So tell me a little bit about the warranty and what's offered, what comes with the home, what's covered and for how long?

Marcos: 11:32

We actually use a, 10 warranty. That's one of the biggest warranty companies in the industry. for the first year it's gonna be all your workmanship. So any faulty install jobs if you're flooring cracks in the corner because of settling that's covered within the first year for two years. All your major distribution, so gas lines, water, electric. Any issues with that is covered for the first two years, and then we have a 10 year structure and foundation.

Jim: 12:01

Okay. Do you know of any, we talked a little bit about that entryway, but any other environmental considerations or any other things going on for those home buyers? Is there anything Dog park or walking trails through the neighborhood?

Ashley: 12:17

We do have walking trails through the neighborhoods. So not only will we have nature walking trails, but we do have sidewalks on both sides of the streets.

Jim: 12:25

Okay. And are there any specific guidelines or restrictions homeowners should be aware of, such as pet policies or rental regulations?

Marcos: 12:35

So we're very pet friendly and this is in all of our culture communities. We love animals. We allow fencing. Excuse me. So that's a that's a unit thing. Even on the water home sites, we allow you to put a five foot ride iron fence. Okay. And then as far as rental policy, it's a six month minimum, so we don't want any Airbnbs or, short term rentals, but yeah, six month minimum,

Jim: 12:59

sure. Somebody's gonna move in and they're gonna be part of the community and be there for a bit, as opposed to cycling through weekly or monthly, correct. Can you share any stories or testimonials from any current residents that highlight their positive experiences or how much fun they're having already moving into a 55 and better?

Marcos: 13:17

We actually, again we're brand new, so we have quite a few homes under construction currently, but we just got our first resident last month.

Jim: 13:24

Nice.

Marcos: 13:24

And they love it. They have two poodles, so he loves walking the community with his dogs. Of course they can't wait to get some neighbors, they're the the first ones in some, sometimes that's what you deal with. But they loved the experience and it was a great experience for them. They moved from Arizona. They came by, they were looking at a couple different communities and they just loved what we had to offer here.

Jim: 13:45

Oh, that's fantastic. What would either one of you two say to anybody that's considering moving down to the Suncoast thinking about Woodland Preserve what kind of final words would you wanna say to attract somebody in there?

Ashley: 13:58

Just do it like it's, especially if they're moving from other places. There's really nothing like Florida. And just the sense of community that you're gonna get here. It's typically throughout all of our culture communities, but it's really not like they're your neighbors. They turn into your family because before you know it, obviously there's only the one homeowner in here now, but you're gonna be outside. You're gonna be, taking your trash cans in or out. You're gonna see a neighbor, you're gonna, connect you. You guys are all gonna have cocktails, down at the clubhouse together. You're gonna have, a pool party get together, you're gonna do Mahjong. So basically it's just do it and you're gonna be happy because there's nothing like a 55 plus community to give you that sense of family without truly being family.

Jim: 14:45

Fantastic. With Marcus Ashley, I want to thank you guys for coming on. No, just a brief conversation but certainly let's touch back as we start and expand into those next expansion areas. But thanks for coming on and talking about it as we go, number one is in and we'll see what else happens.

Marcos: 15:01

Yeah, definitely. We appreciate it. Thanks

Jim: 15:03

for the opportunity.